3: De traction engine (agricultural engine)

The traction engine was built for several purposes
Not only around the farm, but also in industrial premises it was used frequently.
Main purpose was driving equipment around the farm like a treshing engine or a sawbench in industrial works.
It were interesting engines, long flat belts were laid over the flywheel of the traction engine and the driven wheel or axis of eg the sawbench.
Sometimes it gave a problem to give the belt the right tension for proper operation, because the ground was too soft. Also the continuous shaking of the engines resulted in sinking in the underground which resulted in slipping of the belt. On old pictures you can see that people tried to solve this problem by putting wood under the wheels of the engines, sometimes supported with a jack and cable anchored to a solid point to prevent moving of the engine. Also solid constructions of eg bars between the to engines were used to “fix” them.

For driving the engine in soft or muddy ground it was possible to insert “knives” or long nails in the rear wheels to improve the grip. When not used, they were hanging at the bottom of the boiler, below the engine.
You can recognise most engines from the wheels, which are open with spokes.
Most engines have a gearconstruction enabling to drive at different speeds.

To guarantee a constant speed of the flywheel, important when driving other equipment, most engines have a regulator which controls the steamsupply in relation to the load.
With some exceptions, most engines do not have springs, so driving them may be a little bit bumpy!